CNN fires contributor for call to free Palestine

CNN on Thursday parted ways with contributor Marc Lamont Hill after a speech the college professor made on Israel and Palestine at the United Nations.

A CNN spokesperson confirmed Hill is no longer under contract. The network did not give a reason, but the move comes amid objections to Hill's speech by the Anti-Defamation League and other groups.

Hill, a professor of media studies at Temple University who had been a recurring political commentator on CNN, called for countries to boycott and divest from Israel in the Wednesday speech given for the UN's International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

"We have an opportunity to not just offer solidarity in words but to commit to political action, grass-roots action, local action and international action that will give us what justice requires and that is a free Palestine from the river to the sea," Hill said in the speech.

The ADL and others said the "river to the sea" phrase is code for the destruction of Israel.

"Those calling for 'from the river to the sea' are calling for an end to the State of Israel," the ADL's Senior Vice President for International Affairs, Sharon Nazarian, said in a statement, adding that the annual event at the UN "promotes divisiveness and hate."

Hill sent a series of tweets responding to his firing and defending his speech.

"My reference to 'river to the sea' was not a call to destroy anything or anyone," Hill said on Twitter. "It was a call for justice, both in Israel and in the West Bank/Gaza. The speech very clearly and specifically said those things."

"I support Palestinian freedom. I support Palestinian self-determination," Hill tweeted, adding, "I do not support anti-Semitism, killing Jewish people, or any of the other things attributed to my speech. I have spent my life fighting these things."

Saudi Arabia Bans Muslims From Israel and Palestine from Hajj in Mecca

Saudi Arabia has decided to prevent the Hajj more than a million Israeli Muslims. Earlier, the people of Israel could make a pilgrimage with a temporary Jordanian passport. But, according to the new rules of Saudi Arabia, the aforementioned passport is no longer valid.

Thus, more than a million Israeli Muslims will no longer be able to enter the Kingdom, and thus deprived of the opportunity of the pilgrimage to Mecca that is one of the five pillars of Islam. This became known after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammad bin Salman al Saud and discussed the importance of maintaining regime stability.

Note that the pilgrimage to Mecca performed during the month of Ramadan. The lesser pilgrimage “Umrah” can be made at any time of the year and is not mandatory.

Israeli Muslims hitherto used a loophole in the 1978 law that allowed first to get a temporary passport in Jordan, and then travel with him to Saudi Arabia. But now the Kingdom has changed the rules. To travel on temporary documents will be prohibited during the December pilgrimage. Anyone wishing to make the pilgrimage will have to issue regular passports. This decision block on the border of Israeli Muslims, whose number amounts to 17% of Israel’s population.

Official representatives of Israeli Muslims stated that the law worked for 40 years. For some reason, it was decided to cancel it, is unknown. So, the pilgrimage, which was held in December, where already thousands of Israeli pilgrims to pass will not.

While neither the Jordanian nor the Israeli side has not received official explanations from Saudi Arabia.